Recently we have observed the world success of the TV-production called ‘The Vikings’ flickering across our TV-screens here in Norway as well as in the outside world?
So what would be more natural than offering you a piece of ‘Real life history’ from these Vikings?På Bygdøy i Oslo ligger Vikingskipmuseet med hele 3 vikingskip funnet i forskjellige gravhauger im denne delen av landet: ‘Osebergskipet’, ‘Gokstadskipet’ og ‘Tuneskipet’.Når vi nå går inn i museet, ber vi om unnskyldning for at noen av bildene vi viser dere er fotografert i det gamle 4:3-formatet. Det var dessverre ingen annen løsning!

At Bygdoey peninsula just outside og fthe Oslo City center lies the Viking Ship Museum with no less than 3 different viking ships found in different burial sites arpound in this part of our country: ‘The Oseberg Ship’, ‘The Gokstad Ship’ and the ‘Tune Ship’.
Entering this museum we ask your forgiveness having taken e number of these pictures in the old 4:3-mode. There just wasn’t any other solution!Osebergskipet ble funnet i 1904, men selve gravhaugen var blitt registrert allerede i 1861. (Les mer om historien her)Da man i 1904 startet den offisielle utgravingen oppdaget man at dette var et nær komplett bevart vikingskip hvor lagringsforholdene i graven hadde preservert skip, tauverk og alt annet nærmest 100%.

The ‘Oseberg Viking Ship’ was discovered in 1904, but the tumulus itself had been registered as early as in 1861! (Read more from the history here!)
Starting th official excavation in 1904 one was quick to observe that this was a nearly perfectly preserved viking ship and that the condition allowed for nearly 100% preservation of all items in the burial mound.Når man står så vidt nær som her, blir dimensjonene ganske store. ‘Osebergskipet’ har en total lengde på 21,5 meter, bredde 5 meter og med en mastehøyde på 10 meter!

This ship had 15 set of oars! Travelling by sail they were able to cover the oar holes and with optimum conditions the ship might log as much as 12 knots. The rudder could be raised in order to enable the ship entering into shallow water.

Since the ‘Oseberg Ship’ was nearly perfectly preserved, a project has been fullfilled:
A number of highly adept boatbuilders have reconstructed the old Oseberg ship using fresh materials of today, but at the same time using methods and the tools as they were 1200 years ago! At the same time the boatbuilders hadan intimaterelationship withthe Viking ShipMuseum’scurators.
Today there is actually a true copy of the ‘Oseberg Viking Ship’ sailing in the waters around the city of Toensberg here in Norway!Så har vi den andre: ‘Gokstadskipet’ som med 5,2 meter bredde og 23,8 meters lengde er enda større enn ‘Osebergskipet’! Kanskje ikke fullt så forseggjort, men med vakre myke linjer!

Then we have the other one: ‘The Gokstad ship’ which with it widt of 17,2 feet and a full length of nearly 78,5 feet was even larger than ‘the Oseberg Ship’. Perhaps not quite the same details, but nevertheless beautiful smooth lines!

The Gokstad Ship was found more or less by accident: At the Gokstad farm just outside of the city of Sandefjord two of the sons of the owner was kind of bored. To create some exitement for themselves they started to dig in a nearby tumulus and found the Gokstad ship! This happened one day in the year 1879!

Besides the ships a lot of other items that were used by the vikings at this time have been found. ‘Dragon heads’ are nearly everywhere; on ships, on churches on chiefdoms around the country etc., and it is believed that they were used to demonstrate power, ward off evil spirits and likewise.Av sikkerhetshensyn ble veldig mye av de utstilte gjenstander oppbevart i låste glassmontre. Forståelig nok, men – det blir veldig vanskjelig å få gode bilder grunnet en masse uønskede reflekser fra lyspunkter både høyt og lavt. Og derfor måtte dessverre alt for mange bilder kasseres etter gjennomgang. Her en staselig slede med en masse intrikat ornamentikk.

For safety reasons most anything was kept under lock n’ key in glass montres, naturally enough, but an ill effect was that it created a lot of reflexes from light bulbs – high an low, and a lot of pictures had to be discarded. (Sorry!)
Here a fantastic sledge rich on ornaments.Og her en annen –
And here’s another one –Da har vi kommet til ‘kjøkken-avdelingen. Har ser vi en gryte konstruert for ildsted. Spør meg ikke hvor mange porsjoner den kan inneholde. 🙂
Noe for neste grill party?

So – we’ve arrived at the kitchen department. Here’s a kettle designed for open fire, but please don’t ask me how many servings you may get out of this one 🙂
Something for your next barbecue party?Ølboller, fat og trau, men den største av alle tror jeg faktisk er en form for kano?Drinking bowls,barrelsand troughs, butthe largest of all, I think is actuallysome form ofcanoe?Igjen et dragehode, men igjen i en ny utforming . . .
Again a ‘dragon head’, but again in a new style . . .En slags sko, men mer usikker for hva slags bruk . . .
Some kind of shoe made of hide, but I’m more uncertain for what kind of use?

The many very fine metal objekt the vikings left behind, tell us that the blacksmiths had a rather high standing in this society. At the same time we know that they didn’t mine metals from the Norwegian nature. Instead they imported precious metals that they came across during their often long voyages overseas.

The viking lived in a society dominated by ‘survival of the fittest’. A single life was of no importance. Honour and power were more crucial than living a long and peaceful life.
The ideal of the perfect warrior was highly esteemed, especialy among the ‘upper class’.
A chieftain should be generous to his friends, but just as ruthless towards his enemies.
Being in possession of beatutifully crafted deadly weapons, colorful garments, large ships and jewellery of gold and silver was far more important than anything else.

The man from Gokstad is believed to have been some kind of chieftain, which not only carried a great influence, but which probably owned or controlled large areas around Gokstad.

Vikingene bygget fremragende skip og hadde både mulighet og vilje til å reise over hav og på elver. Fra Skandinavia reiste vikingene over Nordsjøen mot England, Irland og Frankrike, men de foretok også reiser til Island, Grønland og helt til det Nord-Amerikanske kontinent. De reiste også inn i Middelhavet hvor de besøkte en rekke land hvor de bl.a. fulgte russiske elveløp helt inn i Svartehavet og det Kaspiske hav.
Hvis du vil vite mer om Vikingenes reiser, så er dette museet et godt utgangspunkt!The Vikings had the ability to build fantastic ships that gave them the means and the will to sail across oceans, up rivers, even visit new continents. From the Scandinavia the vikings sailed across the North Sea to England, Irland and France. Later they sailed to Iceland, Greenland and the North-American Continent and expanded their travels to the
Mediterranean where they proceeded up Russian rivers into the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea. If you want to know more, this museum is a good starting point! 🙂
(Compliments of SRB)